Case Ref: 22 007 055 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will ensure all relevant staff and panel members have refresher training on how to assess transport applications made on the grounds of special educational needs and mobility needs.

Case Ref: 22 001 765 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Disabled facilities grants

• The Council has agreed to ensure it makes clear to recipients of DFGs that they are responsible for the choice of contractor, they employ the contractor, not the Council and any issues with the contractor (outside of the satisfactory completion of the works) is between them and the contractor.

Case Ref: 22 000 212 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: COVID-19

• The Council will remind complaint handling staff of the Ombudsman’s expectation that they give evidence based reasons for decisions.

Case Ref: 22 000 120 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Domiciliary care

• The Council has agreed to share this decision with staff to highlight the need to address any concerns raised without delay.

Case Ref: 21 016 520 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Disabled children

• Use this case as an example to ensure staff dealing with complaints are aware of the circumstances when the statutory complaints process should be used for children’s social care services complaints.

Case Ref: 21 015 229 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council should send a reminder to officers carrying out Care Act assessments to ensure they are aware of the need to offer the option of the Council seeking an alternative care provider which would not require a top up when the service user or their family express a desire to choose a more expensive provider.
• The Council will provide training to officers in social care/direct payments or send them a guidance note on the implications data protection has for their work, particularly in relation to when it is appropriate to disclose information to a family member.

Case Ref: 20 007 650 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Fostering

• Within four months, the Council will: remind children's independent reviewing officers (IROs) of their responsibility to ascertain children's wishes and feelings, to record them and to show how they have given due consideration before moving a child from a foster placement.
• Within four months, the Council will: reviewe the information it gives to children in care about their right to advocacy.
• Within four months, the Council will: remind social workers and managers that there should be a written record of key decisions affecting children in care.
• Within the four months, the Council will: remind social workers, managers and IROs of the need to hold a statutory looked after child review when proposing to move children from a foster placement (unless it is an emergency).
• Within four months, the Council will: tells us what steps it has taken to ensure the Fostering Panel approves placements of children in care with foster carers.

Case Ref: 21 004 119 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will ensure residents of care home places commissioned by the Council are provided with information about the process for terminating a care home place and that charges will apply in the event of hospital admission. This information should be provided when a resident is admitted to a care home and could be included in the individual placement agreement.

Case Ref: 21 001 512 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council to remind officers to ensure they update and record any decision made about a task and its progress or otherwise, before removing it from a child protection plan.

Case Ref: 20 012 215 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• We found the Council failed to apply the correct test of whether school transport was necessary to transport a pupil with an EHC Plan to the school named in that EHC Plan. The Council's policy wrongly referred to the need to show 'exceptional circumstances'. The Council agreed to review within six months all similar decisions to ensure the correct test had been applied and its School Transport Policy to ensure it quoted the correct test.